Tuesday 13 June 2017

If You Like Bluebells In The Spring Time,

this is the place for you,


 Hallerbos is a beautiful but unremarkable forest in central Belgium, near Brussels, however, in mid-April and all through May, it turns into the Blue Forest, a fairytale-like natural attraction unlike any other,

 the reason is that there are just so many flowers in this particular forest, located in Belgium’s Halle municipality, between Flanders and Wallonia, Hallerbos Forest is a 569 hectare natural park owned by the Belgian State, the first recorded mention of its existence dates back to the year 686, but it was almost erased off the face of the Earth, during WW1, when the Germans removed most of the trees, thanks to the reforestation operations that took place between 1930 and 1950, the magic of this place was preserved,

but one word of caution, the one thing you have to remember when visiting the Blue Forest is staying on the clearly marked walking paths, the soil and bluebell carpet are extremely fragile, so trampling on them can cause severe damage, in order to keep the Blue Forest looking in pristine condition, straying off the paths is strictly forbidden, even when taking professional photos,

as a rule of thumb, the best time to visit the Blue Forest is mid-April, but the precise time of flowering is heavily influenced by weather, for example, if late March is unusually warm, then the bluebells could be appearing in early April, luckily, the official Hallerbos Forest website posts frequent updates on the blooming of the bluebells, especially as the flowering stage approaches, keeping an eye on these is probably the best way to make sure you visit this beautiful place at just the right time, so put a reminder in your diary for next year and remember take extra batteries and SD cards for your camera!


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